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Wednesday, May 04, 2005

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National

Congress councillor killed in Kashmir

Special Correspondent

Township closed after attack; top police, civil officials rush to spot The attacks created panic in the busy Pattan market as people ran helter-skelter to escape the indiscriminate fire

SRINAGAR: Stepping up their attacks on recently elected members of local bodies, militants on Tuesday shot dead the head of the municipal committee, Pattan, and his two guards.

Police sources said militants shot Mohammad Ramzan Mian, a Congress activist who was recently elected chairman of Pattan Municipal Committee, as he came out of his office. Militants fired indiscriminately at his two bodyguards, Riyaz Ahmed and Zahoor Ahmed and a civilian Shabir Ahmed. A police constable, Altaf Ahmed, gave chase to the militants but was shot and critically wounded. While Mr. Mian died on the spot, his guards and the policemen died in the hospital.

Shabir Ahmed, who is the president of a local traders association, is in a critical condition. The attacks created panic in the busy Pattan market as people ran helter-skelter to escape the indiscriminate fire.

The township, which is located on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, was closed immediately after the attack. Top police and civil officers rushed from Baramulla to take stock of the situation. Police said the security forces had launched a manhunt to nab the culprits. This is the first major attack on the municipal councillors after the February polls. Insurgents have already killed a dozen candidates during elections and immediately after that. They forced the resignation of a number of members of the Sopore Municipal Committee by kidnapping the son of one of the councillors. However, the councillors withdrew their resignations later.

One civilian was killed and 10 others, including two security men, were injured when militants tossed a grenade at a security column in Shopian in Pulwama district. The critically wounded were shifted to Srinagar for treatment. Shops were closed in protest. In the same district, militants kidnapped and killed an Awami National Conference activist, Abdul Jabar Khanday, from Dooru village. Two civilians were reported wounded in Zainpora village of Shopian in a militant attack. Militants fired several rifle grenades and opened fire on a police camp at Pothushahi area in Kupwara district early on Tuesday. Police guards fired in retaliation and repulsed the militant attack, the sources said adding that no casualty was reported. A search of the area yielded some arms and ammunition but no one was arrested.

PTI reports:

Al-Arifeen claims responsibility

Al-Arifeen, one of the four militant outfits opposing Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the killing of municipal chairman and three policemen in an attack at Pattan in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir.

A caller introducing himself as a spokesman of the Al-arifeen telephoned news organisations here, claiming its members shot dead Congress leader and chairman of the Pattan Municipal Committee, Mohammad Ramzan Mian, and three policemen in at Pattan on Srinagar-Uri National Highway, the road leading to Mmuzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Al-arifeen, alongwith Save Kashmir Movement, Al-nasireen and Farzandan-e-Millat, came to limelight recently when these groups had issued threats to disrupt the inaugural run of Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus and carried out an attack on the Tourist Reception Centre, a day ahead of the historic launch of the bus service on April 7.

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